Multiple wheel striping tool



Oct. 25, 1955 J. R. BENKowsKl 2,721,347

MULTIPLE WHEEL STRIPING TOOL Filed Feb. 27, 1955 United States Patent MULTIPLE WHEEL STRIPING TOOL .loseph R. Benkowski, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Wendell Manufacturing Company, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Application February 27, 1953, Serial No. 339,339

4 Claims. (Cl. 15132.5)

This invention relates to paint stripers and is concerned primarily with an improvement upon United States Patent Number 2,122,858 issued to Leslie W. Coombs July 5, 1938.

In United States Patent Number 2,122,858, there is disclosed a relatively small paint striper in which a pair of complementary wheel supporting jaws are arranged to communicate with a bottle-like paint reservoir. The jaws are adapted to rotatably support a single striper wheel having a serrated periphery, and also to supply paint from the reservoir to the striper Wheel. The primary object of the present invention is to improve upon the paint striper as described in the above patent issued to Leslie W. Coombs by adapting that striper for the formation of a plurality of painted stripes, and to do this in such a manner that the painted stripes are produced simultaneously in an even parallel relation to one another. A further object of the present invention is to assure that such parallel stripes are uniform in appearance, the elementary portions of the stripes each receiving substantially the same quantity of paint.

Proposals have been made in the past regarding the use of plural striping wheels in a paint striper, but so far as l am aware these prior proposals do not account for ready interchangeability at the striping-head, and accordingly a further object of the present invention is to delineate plural painted stripes with a striping head in which a diierent number of stripes may be readily provided for and in which the striping head may be readily assembled and disassembled.

Other and further objects of the present invention will be apparent from the following description and claims and are illustrated in the accompanying drawings which, by way of illustration, show the preferred embodiments of the present invention and the principle thereof and what I now consider to be the best mode in which I have contemplated applying thatprinciple. Other embodiments of the invention embodying the same or equivalent principles may be used'and structural changes may be made as desired by those skilled in the art without departing from the present invention. y

Thus, while I have illustrated and described the preferred embodiments of my invention, it is to be understood that these are capable of variation and modification.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is an elevational view of a paint striper embodying the principles of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 2 2 of Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is an exploded view, showing some of the parts in section, of the striper illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2;

Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the striper;

Fig. 5 is a side view of one of the wheel supporting jaws;

Fig. 6.is a sectional view taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5;

Fig..7 is an elevational view of a spacer;

Fig. 8 is a detail sectional view showing one modification of the present invention; and

Fig. 9 is a detail sectional view showing another modication.

The present invention, for purposes of disclosure, is illustrated in Figs. l to 7 inclusive as embodied in a paint striper 10 that is similar in most essential details to the striper of the aforesaid patent issued to Leslie W. Coombs. Thus, the striper 1li embodies a paint reservoir 11 that is preferably in the form of a small glass bottle having an inner chamber 11C. The bottle 11 is closed at one end 13, and has a circular neck 19 of reduced diameter at the other end through which paint may pass when the reservoir is inverted as in Fig. l.

Paint is adapted to pass from the chamber 11C through the neck 19 in a controlled fashion, and for this purpose the striper 10 embodies a detachable striping head, generally indicated at l2, which in turn comprises a set of internally grooved or hollowed wheel supporting jaws 24 and a slightly tapered sleeve-like coupling member 23 for operatively connecting the jaws to the receptacle 11 in communicating relation. Thus, it will be noted that when the striper 10 is assembled the jaws 24 are aligned axially and in end-toend relationship with respect to the neck 19 of the receptacle l1. A gasket 1S having an opening 17 is arranged between the adjacent ends of the neck and jaws for controlling paint llow in the manner described in the aforesaid Coombs patent'.

This relationship between the jaws of the neck of the bottle is maintained by means of threads 20 formed on the outside of the neck of the bottle, and these threads are adapted to cooperate with complementary threads 21 formed on the interior of the neck 22 of the coupling member 23. As was noted above, the coupling member 23 is tapered slightly so that the circular inner side 27 of the coupling member is or" regular frustro-conical shape. The jaws 24 are rounded, and when assembled together, atiord an outer circumferential tapered portion 24F. As shown in Fig. 2, this external tapered portion 24F on the assembled jaws is formed to be complementary to the tapered inner surface 27 of the coupling member so that the jaws seat tightly inside the coupling member just below the threads 21. When the jaws are seated in the coupling member in this manner the bottle 11 may then be threadedly mounted in the upper end of the coupling member, and the relationship is such that the neck of the bottle can be adjustably turned to compress the gasket 13 a selected amount between the neck v19 of the bottle and the jaws 24, this action also forcing the jaws 24 into a rm clamping engagement with the interior of the coupling member and arranging the striper 10 as an integral, tight, and compact unit.

As shown in the drawings, the exterior of the coupling member 23 is indented, or shaped concave, at 23G on opposite sides, and these indentations are grooved and related in size to the operators thumb and forenger so that the striper 10 may be easily gripped and eiiiciently manipulated in use. The coupling member 23 is also adapted to adjustably clamp in position a wire-like guide member 36 that is used to guide the striper 10 in its movement during use.

The jaws 24 are adapted to meter paint to a plurality of striping wheels as 46 and 47 which are each serrated as at 50, Fig. l, for proper application of the paint or other striping lluid, this action being fully described in the aforesaid Coombs patent. The jaws 24 are similarly shaped both exteriorally and interiorally, and thus each jaw is axially-grooved or hollowed to afford a sort of openended trough 25. These troughs or grooves 25 are complementary to one another, and when the jaws are assembled along their tlat inner edges 28S as shown in Fig. 3, an inner chamber or magazine 29 extends from the gasket 18 to the wheels as 46 and 47, so that paint may pass from the neck of the bottle 11, through the opening 17 in the gasket 18, and down through the charnber ,29 in the assembled jaws to the paint applying wheels. The chamber 29 is somewhat cascaded, as can be best appreciated from Fig. 6, through a series of internal shoulders which are sloped downwardly and which serve to obstruct slightly the internal chamber passageway 29 in a regular downwardly running relation.

In accordance with the present invention, the jaws 24 are adapted to support a plurality of striping wheels, and to this end each jaw comprises an upper or head portion 30 from which depends an integral bearing extension 28 which affords a at inner bearing face ZSF. ri`he bearing facesl are each formed' with a corresponding bearing opening, and a shaft or axle on which the striping wheels are rotatably mounted in spaced relation is itself nonrotatably mounted or received in one such opening as shown in Fig. 6. This shaft is adapted to be loosely iitted,

in the other bearing opening so that the jaw 24' corresponding thereto may be simply slipped on and off the shaft 45 during assemblage of the head 12.

In contrast to the bearing extensions 2S which are practically at on either side as can be seen in Fig. 6,v the head portion 30. of each jaw is rounded to afford the corresponding trough 25, and when the complementary jaws are juxtaposed one on the other, these troughs register as the jaw chamber or magazine way 29, the bearing extensions 28 being spaced relatively far apart as shown in- Fig. 2 to accommodate between them the striping n wheels.

The present invention is concerned primarily with the simultaneous formation of a plurality of parallel, spaced apart stripes during operation of the striper 10.. Such stripes are to be substantially uniform in appearance and will correspond in number to the number of striping wheels, as for instance the two wheels 46 and 47 in the embodiment shown in Figs. l to 7 inclusive. In order that such relationship may be maintained in the striper 10 in accordance with the present invention, spacers 55 are afforded between the striping wheels. As shown in` Fig. 7, theV spacers 55 are each somewhat parabolic in shape havingk parabolic sides and lower end 57, and an` opening 56 is providedV at the apex or lower end to receive the shaft 45'. The opposite end of the spacer is formed with opposite shoulders as 55S separated. by a small rectangular divider 5.8.

In assembling the striper 10, the number of such spacers 55* used is one less than the number of striper wheels to be employed for the purpose of delineating a corresponding number ofV parallel' stripes on the surface to be thuspainted. A striper wheel as 47 is first positioned on. the shaft 45l that is non-rotatably secured in a bearing 28 of one of the jaws 24', and then a spacer 55 isV next posi-y modate the striper wheels as shown in Fig. 5. With thei spacer 55 thus located another striper wheel such as 46 is located on the shaft 45, and assuming that only two striper` wheels are to be used, the other jaw 24 is juxtaposed on the first jaw 24 with the opposite end of shaft 45 located in the bearing opening of such other jaw.V I-n this connection, it may be mentioned that the size of al pair of the jaws 24 and the length of the sha-ft 4-5 that is non-rotatably mounted in the bearing member of one ofthe jaws will` be predetermined and selected according to the number of striper wheels to be supported by the head 12. Accordingly, as shown in the drawings, the assembled jaws which thus. hold the two striper wheels 46 and 47 in place engage closely along their at inner edges 28S, Fig. 3 with the ends of shaft 45l concealed in the, bearing members 28. Under such` conditions, the

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outside faces of the opposite striper wheels 46 and 47 are disposed immediately opposite the associated and respective bearing faces 28F which preferably are of bearing material or alloy, as with the spacer 55. As shown in Fig. 2, the lower of the internal shoulders, 26, in the charnber 29, serve to direct paint on to the striping wheels as 46 and 47.

When the striper wheels and spacer are assembled in the jaws, the relationship is such that the shoulders 55S of the spacer 55 extend back under the curved or arcuately configured lower ends 31 of the jaw head 30 and with the rectangular divider 58 of the spacer 55 projecting up Vinto the chamber 29, Fig. 2, and above the peripheries of the striper wheels 46' and 47 in the chamber 29. With the rectangular divider thus extended well up into the jaw chamber 29 above the top edges of the striper wheels in this manner, the accumulation of paint in the grooves that would otherwise exist between adjacent striper wheels at the bottom of the chamber 29 is prevented, and this relationship also assists in assuring that paint is properly fed to and equally distributed between. the striper wheels.

As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the spacer 55 overlaps the joint between the jaws, that is, the line along which the flat inner edges as 28S engage, when viewed in elevation, bisects` the thickness of the spacer 55. By thus dimensioning the jaws 24 and the spacer 55, the jaws, as a sub-assembly in the form shown in Fig. 3, are prevented from turning relative to one another and by this arrangement a more or lessv integrated relationship is maintained between the jaws during the time that the striper 10 is being assembled. In this same connection, it should be pointed out that the spacer 55' is relatively stationary on the shaft 45, because of the lapping, relationship that exists with respect to the facing edges 28S, as was described above, and' also because the shoulders 55S extend under the lower ends 31 of` the head portions 30 of the jaws.

In Figs. 8 and 9 the present invention is illustrated as adapted to delineate more than two stripes onthe surface to be thus painted. The type of cooperation between the clamping members and the wheel supporting jaws in these latter two instances is the same as that illustrated for the respective members 23 and 24 in Figs.. l to 7, the exception being that these members will be of a size. to accommodate three striping wheels, 46, 47 and 48, as shown in Fig. 8, or will be of a size to accommodate four striping wheels 46, 47, 48 and 49,l Fig. 9. Thus, the jaws 24A, Fig. 8, supportV between them on the shaft 45A, three striper wheels, two of which are disposed against the. opposite bearing faces of the spaced apart jaws. The third wheel, 48, is separated from the wheels 46 and 47 by spacers 55 and 65 that are. identical to the spacer 55 shown. in Fig. 7 and which are related to the three striper wheels in the same manner as the. spacer 55 is related to the striper wheels 46 and 47'in Figs. l to 7.

Similarly, four striper wheels, Fig. 9, are operatively associated with jaws 24B of corresponding size, the latter being held in a corresponding coupling member 23B. In` this instance, three spacers 55, 65, and 75 are used to maintain the wheels inproper spaced relation ina fashion identical to that for the spacer 55 described above in connection with Figs. l to 7.

A boss. 33 is providedon the coupling member 23 and a set screw 45. mountedA in the boss 33 is adapted to engage one arm of a guidemember 36v which is adjustably mounted in an opening in the boss 33 whereby the depending arm of the guide member 36. may be moved along the edge E of a surface S which is to be striped so as to guide the new paint striper thereover.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the striper of the present invention is adapted to produce simultaneously a plurality of parallel painted stripes evenly and uniformly on the surface that is thus to be painted.

I claim:

l. In a paint striper having a pairl of complementary shaped jaws for rotatably supporting a striper wheel, and in which the jaws are shaped to afford an internal chamber for holding paint to be supplied to such a striper wheel, bearing members each having a bearing face de pending from the jaws in spaced relation one to another, a shaft supported between said bearing members, a pair of striper wheels rotatably mounted on said shaft with one such striper wheel arranged to rotate immediately adjacent each bearing face, and a spacer and paint flow control member on said shaft between said striper wheels adapted to hold the striper wheels in spaced relation to one another and to control the ow of paint on to said striper wheels, said spacer and paint ow control member being relatively stationary on the shaft and having an integral extension at the upper end projecting up into said chamber and above the peripheries of the associated striper wheels in said paint holding chamber.

2. In a paint striper having a pair of complementary shaped jaws for rotatably supporting a striper wheel, and in which the jaws are shaped to afford an internal chamber for holding paint to be supplied to such a striper wheel, bearing members each having a bearing face depending from the jaws in spaced relation one to another, a shaft supported between said bearing members, a pair of striper Wheels rotatably mounted on said shaft with one such striper wheel arranged to rotate at the inner side of each bearing face, and a spacer and paint ow control member on said shaft between said striper wheels adapted to hold the striper wheels in spaced relation to one another, said spacer and paint flow control member including spaced shoulder portions adapted to engage the bottom ends of said jaws so as to be removably but nonrotatably mounted on said shaft and including a vertical projection between said striper portions extending up into said chamber and above the periphery of the spacer wheels in said paint holding chamber.

3. In a paint striper having a pair of complementary shaped jaws for rotatably supporting a striper wheel, and in which the jaws abut along a side edge and are shaped to afford an internal chamber for holding paint to be supplied to such a striper wheel, bearing members each having a bearing face depending from the jaws in spaced relation one to another, a shaft supported between said bearing members with one of the bearing members loosely connected in a detachable manner to a corresponding end of said shaft, a plurality of striper wheels rotatably mounted in spaced apart relation on said shaft, and spacers on said shaft between adjacent wheels for maintaining said spaced relation between the striper wheels, each of said spacers being non-rotatable on said shaft and having a portion extending up into said internal chamber above the corresponding upper peripheral edges of the associated striper wheels to assure a steady and uniform ow of paint to the striper wheels.

4. A striper according to claim 3 in which each spacer is parabolic in outline and has an opening toward the apex for receiving said shaft to thus be mounted on the shaft, opposite shoulder portions at its top side extending under the said side edges along which the jaws abut, and an integral rectangular divider formed between said shoulder portions so as to extend up into said internal chamber and above the upper peripheral edges of the associated striper wheels to control the ilow of paint to the striper wheels.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,965,753 Scoles July 10, 1934 2,016,545 Dickerson Oct. 8, 1935 2,122,858 Coombs July 5, 1938 2,582,861 Coombs Jan. 15, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 680,208 Great Britain Oct. l, 1952 

